An Old Twist on Valentine's Day

[DriftingCrow]

An Old Twist on Valentine's Day
http://mag.newsweek.com/2014/02/14/valentines-day.html
Catya Cengel; Newsweek

When composing a singing telegram, Adhamh Roland likes to start with the recipient's name. From there he likes to take the subject's quirks and characteristics "pretends to like salsa," "has beaten Grand Theft Auto V" and work them into five or six rhyming stanzas. Somewhere in there is "the shocker"

[The] transgender 28-year-old from St. Louis, Roland has a traditional style bellhop outfit and accordion and a modern outlook: He advertises the telegram as, among other things, a way to come out to your parents [. . .]

Roland entered the scene in the San Francisco Bay Area three years ago with his own business, Tin Can Singing Telegram. [. . .] He makes about 30 percent of his income from the telegrams which run from $90 to $225 and the rest working with school children in programs on bullying prevention and diversity.